Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 1:1
Context1:1 This is what 1 Moses said to the assembly of Israel 2 in the Transjordanian 3 wastelands, the arid country opposite 4 Suph, 5 between 6 Paran 7 and Tophel, 8 Laban, 9 Hazeroth, 10 and Di Zahab 11
Deuteronomy 24:1-22
Context24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive 12 in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. 24:2 When she has left him 13 she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects 14 her and then divorces her, 15 gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, 24:4 her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry 16 her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. 17 You must not bring guilt on the land 18 which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 19 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 20 the wife he has married.
24:6 One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security. 21
24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, 22 and regards him as mere property 23 and sells him, that kidnapper 24 must die. In this way you will purge 25 evil from among you.
24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely 26 all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do. 24:9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam 27 along the way after you left Egypt.
24:10 When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security. 28 24:11 You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security. 29 24:12 If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering. 30 24:13 You must by all means 31 return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just 32 deed by the Lord your God.
24:14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites 33 or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 34 24:15 You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
24:16 Fathers must not be put to death for what their children 35 do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.
24:17 You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan. 24:18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this. 24:19 Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, 36 you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do. 37 24:20 When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; 38 the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 24:21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; 39 they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 24:22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.
[1:1] 1 tn Heb “These are the words.”
[1:1] 2 tn Heb “to all Israel.”
[1:1] 3 tn Heb “on the other side of the Jordan.” This would appear to favor authorship by someone living on the west side of the Jordan, that is, in Canaan, whereas the biblical tradition locates Moses on the east side (cf. v. 5). However the Hebrew phrase בְּעֵבֶר הַיּרְדֵּן (bÿ’ever hayyrÿden) is a frozen form meaning “Transjordan,” a name appropriate from any geographical vantage point. To this day, one standing east of the Jordan can describe himself as being in Transjordan.
[1:1] 4 tn The Hebrew term מוֹל (mol) may also mean “in front of” or “near” (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
[1:1] 5 sn This place is otherwise unattested and its location is unknown. Perhaps it is Khirbet Sufah, 4 mi (6 km) SSE of Madaba, Jordan.
[1:1] 6 tn The Hebrew term בֵּין (ben) may suggest “in the area of.”
[1:1] 7 sn Paran is the well-known desert area between Mount Sinai and Kadesh Barnea (cf. Num 10:12; 12:16).
[1:1] 8 sn Tophel refers possibly to et£-T£afîleh, 15 mi (25 km) SE of the Dead Sea, or to Da‚bîlu, another name for Paran. See H. Cazelles, “Tophel (Deut. 1:1),” VT 9 (1959): 412-15.
[1:1] 9 sn Laban. Perhaps this refers to Libnah (Num 33:20).
[1:1] 10 sn Hazeroth. This probably refers to àAin Khadra. See Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 199-200.
[1:1] 11 sn Di Zahab. Perhaps this refers to Mina al-Dhahab on the eastern Sinai coast.
[24:1] 12 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).
[24:3] 34 tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[24:3] 35 tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”
[24:4] 45 tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”
[24:4] 46 sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.
[24:4] 47 tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).
[24:5] 56 tn Heb “go out with.”
[24:5] 57 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
[24:6] 67 sn Taking millstones as security on a loan would amount to taking the owner’s own life in pledge, since the millstones were the owner’s means of earning a living and supporting his family.
[24:7] 78 tn Heb “from his brothers, from the sons of Israel.” The terms “brothers” and “sons of Israel” are in apposition; the second defines the first more specifically.
[24:7] 79 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
[24:7] 80 tn Heb “that thief.”
[24:7] 81 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
[24:8] 89 tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”
[24:9] 100 sn What the
[24:10] 111 tn Heb “his pledge.” This refers to something offered as pledge of repayment, i.e., as security for the debt.
[24:11] 122 tn Heb “his pledge.”
[24:12] 133 tn Heb “may not lie down in his pledge.” What is in view is the use of clothing as guarantee for the repayment of loans, a matter already addressed elsewhere (Deut 23:19-20; 24:6; cf. Exod 22:25-26; Lev 25:35-37). Cf. NAB “you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge”; NRSV “in the garment given you as the pledge.”
[24:13] 144 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”
[24:13] 145 tn Or “righteous” (so NIV, NLT).
[24:14] 155 tn Heb “your brothers,” but not limited only to actual siblings; cf. NASB “your (+ own NAB) countrymen.”
[24:14] 156 tn Heb “who are in your land in your gates.” The word “living” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[24:16] 166 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB; twice in this verse). Many English versions, including the KJV, read “children” here.
[24:19] 177 tn Heb “in the field.”
[24:19] 178 tn Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1-13).
